A new mammal has been discovered in the thickly-forested mountains of Papua New Guinea. The squirrel-like animal lives in the canopy of the forest and has a diet rich in leaves. On occasion, however, the animal drops to the ground to quickly fill its cheeks with its own fecal droppings, for ingestion once it is safely back in the trees. The GI tract of this animal would most likely include ____________.

Question

A.  a simple stomach and a large cecum
B.  a simple stomach, a short small intestine and colon, and a small cecum
C.  a short intestine and no cecum
D.  a long small intestine with abundant villi and an appendix at the beginning of the large intestine
E.  a four-chambered stomach and long intestines

Clarify Question
· What is the key concept addressed by the question?
· What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content
· What do you know about the intestinal tract of an animal that performs coprophagy? What other information is related to the question?

Choose Answer
· Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflect on Process
· Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

A.  a simple stomach and a large cecum

Clarify Question
· What is the key concept addressed by the question?
        o The question asks about the intestinal tract of an animal that performs coprophagy.
· What type of thinking is required?
        o You are being asked to apply your knowledge about the intestinal tract of an animal that performs coprophagy.

Gather Content
· What do you know about the intestinal tract of an animal that performs coprophagy? What other information is related to the question?
        o Rodents and lagomorphs are herbivores that have evolved another way to capture nutrients from cellulose that achieves a degree of efficiency similar to ruminant digestion. They do this by producing some feces packed with nutrients, which they then eat, a practice known as coprophagy—thus passing the food through their digestive tract a second time. The second passage allows the animal to absorb the nutrients produced by the microorganisms in its cecum. These animals are not ruminants with four chambered stomachs and instead have a simple single chambered stomach. They also have a large cecum where bacteria can break down plant material.

Choose Answer
· Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
        o An animal that eats its own feces is doing so to ingest bacteria that will break down plant material in its cecum. They will have a simple single chambered stomach and large cecum. The small intestines will be long to allow for absorption of the digested plant matter.

Reflect on Process
· Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
        o This question asked you to apply your knowledge about the intestinal tract of an animal that performs coprophagy. If you got the correct answer, great job! If you got an incorrect answer, where did the process break down? Did you think that these animals would be ruminants with a four chambered heart? Did you think that the animals would have a small cecum?